Coal-chute regulator



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(Nov Model.)

J. F. SGHMADEKE. GOAL CHUTE RBGULATQR.

No. 518,653. Patented Apr. 24, 1894.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. P. SCHMADEKE.

GOAL CHUTE REGULATOR.

No. 518,653. Patented Apr. 24', 1894.

/N VE N T019 @6MM ATTORNEYS.

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(NoMoael.) Jl P. SGHMADEKE 3 sheets-sheet 3.-

GoAL CHUTE REGULATOR. No. 518,653. y Patented Apr. 24, 1894.

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u UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. SOHMADEKE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

COAH-CHUTE REGULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,653, dated April 24, 1894.

4 Application led July 7,1893. Serial No. 479,803. (No model.)

To a/Z Z whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, JOHN F. SOHMADEKE, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved CoalOhute Regulator, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descriplon.

My invention relates to improvements in coal chutes such as are filled by elevators or similar devices and from which coal is withdrawn andused. It is desirable that coal chutes of this class be kept full, or substantial'ly so, to prevent coal from breaking badly as 1t drops to the chute bottom; and the ob- Ject of my invention is to provide `an apparatus which is adapted to operate automatically 1n connection with the usual elevator, to throw mechanism into gear by the filling of the chut-e, which shall wind up a cable on a drum and open the chute doors, and also to arrange the mechanism so that it shall work 1n a converse way to close the doors as the chute becomes empty.

To these ends my invention consists in certain features of construction and combina y tions of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure lisa sectional elevation'of the complete apparatus. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2--2 in Fig. 1, at right angles to the View illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a broken perspective view of a slightly modified form of the apparatus; and Fig. 4 is a.

or paddles 14 and a ,hole 15 in the bottom through which the coal passes into the top of the chute. In the upper portion of the chute and hopper-like top 11 thereof are floats 16 and 17 ,l placed one beneath the other and suspended loosely by chains 18 and 18a so as to permit them to rise and fall, as hereinafter described.

The lower float 16 connects by a chain 19 with one end of a lever 20 which is fulcrumed on the shaft 21 above' the conveyerand chute, and which has at its opposite end a weight 22, heavy enough to raise the chain 19 and float 16 when the latter is not Weighted down by coal above it. The lever 2O carries anupwardly-extendin g arm 23 which engages, in the usual way, a sleeve 24 of a clutch 25, which is of common construction, and is mounted on a shaft 26 which turns in suitable bearings 27 on the framework 2S above the chute, and the clutch is adapted to connect or disconnect the gear wheel 29 and drum 30with or from the shaft 26. The drum 30 carries a cable 31 which extends downward over a suitable guide pulley 32 and is secured to the outer of the doors l2.

It will be seen that when the float 16 is depressed by a quantity of coal above it, the chain 19 will be pulled down, the lever 20 tilted, and the clutch 25 thrown into engagement with the gear wheel 29 and shaft 26, so that when the shaft is turned, the cable 3l is wound upon the drum and the doors raised. The gear wheel 29 meshes with a pinion 33 on a shaft 34 below it, which shaft is journaled in suitable supports 35 and has near one end a ratchet wheel 36 which is engaged and turned by a pawl 36a on along tilting lever 37, which is also fulcrumed on the shaft 34 and the lower end of which drops, when unopposed, into the path of the buckets of the conveyer or carrier.

Beneath the lever 37 is a shaft 38 which extends transversely above the conveyer and is supported in suitable hangers or bearings 39, and on the shaft 38 is an upwardly-extending arm 40 which is directly beneath the `lever 37 and in the free end of which is journaled a roller 41 on which the lever rides. The shaft has also a crank arm 42 extending IOO from the side opposite the arm 40, and to the outer end of thisarm 42 is secured a chain f 43 which extends downward and is fastened at its lower end to the upper float 17.

The shaft 38 carries a weight 44 which normally hangs in a vertical position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and this is sufficiently heavy to swing the arms 40 Vand 42 into the position shown in Fig. 1, so as to hold the lower end of the lever 37 almost out of the path of the conveyer buckets and they will thus touch it but lightly as they travel, and so as to hold the float 17 in a raised position.

When the coal rises in the chute so as to depress the lower oat 16, the winding mechanism will be thrown in gear, as already described, and as soon as the coal rises a little higher, the oat 17 is depressed, which movement of the upper iioat 17 depresses the arm 42 and raises the arm 40 into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus permitting the lower end of the lever 37 to fall into engagement with the buckets 14 ot the elevator, and as these travel alon g they successively strike the lower end of the lever 37 so that the said lower end is alternately swung upward and downward and the action of the pawl 36" on the lever, in connection with the ratchet wheel 36, causes the shaft 34 to be turned and the movement is imparted to the pinion 33 and gear Wheel 29 to the drnm 30, and the cable 31 is wound thereon, and the doors opened.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a slightly modified form of the apparatus, in which the clutch mechanism is dispensed with and a single iioat used. Here a tilting lever 45 is fulcrumed in a suitable support 46 above the chute and conveyer, and one end of the lever 45 extends across the upper end of the lever 37 and is provided with a weight 47 which is of suiiicient heft to normally depress the upper end of the lever 37 and raise the lower end, and it also raises the single iioat 16 in the chute with which the lever 45 connects by a chain 45a.

Fig. 4 illustrates the use of the apparatus without the gears, and where it is necessary to have a swinging gate, as here shown, the chute 10 is provided with a swinging gate 48 near the top, which is closed by a weight 49 carried by an arm 50 projecting upward and outward from the free edge of the gate 48. The weight 49 has secured to it an upwardlyextending chain 51 which is secured to the outer end of a lever 52, which is fulcrumed near its center in a support 53 projecting npward from the hopper-like top ll of the chute. The inner end of the lever 52 connects by a chain 54 with the single float 16 in the top of the chute.

It will be seen that when the chute is not quite full, the weight 49 closes the gate 48 and lifts the iioat 16, but when the chute is full the coal therein depresses the float 16 and the latter pulls downward on the chain 54, tilts the lever 52, and lifts the chain 51 so as to swing the arm 50 and gate 48 outward, thus permitting the surplus coal to pass out through the gate 48.

l have shown and described floats 16 and 17 for operating the door controlling meehism, and it will be understood that anything movable by the pressure of coal, such as trap doors, may be substituted for the iioats without` aiecting the principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, with a coal chute having suitable doors, of a iioat suspended in the chute, means for thus suspending it and means for opening the doors set in operation by the depression of the iioat, substant1ally as described.

2. The combination, with a coal chute having suitable doors, and a conveyer or carrier arranged to deliver coal to the chute, of floats suspended in the chute, a gear mechanism actuated by the conveyer or carrier to operate the doors, and means for throwing the gear mechanism out of and into gear by the rise and fall of the heats, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a coal chute having suitable doors, and a conveyer or carrier arranged to deliver into the chute, of iioats mounted in the chute, a winding drum operatively connected by a cable with the doors, means for throwing the drum out of and into gear by the rise and fall of one tloat, a tilting lever adapted to drop into the path of the conveyer, a gear and ratchet mechanism for turning the winding drum by the tilting of the lever, and mechanism actuated by the rise and fall of the second float for throwing the tilting lever into and out of engagement with the conveyer, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the chute having suitable doors, and the conveyer arranged t0 move above the chute, of the winding drum operatively connected by a cable with the doors, a iioat arranged in the chute, a clutch operated by the rise and fall of the float to throw the drum into and out ot gear, a tilting lever having one end extending into the path of the conveyer, a ratchet and gear connection between the tilting lever and the drum, whereby the tilting of the lever will turn the drum, a second oat in the chute, and means, actuated by the rise and fall of the second float, for throwing the lever into and out of engagement with the conveyer or carrier, substantially as described.

5. The combination, of the chute, the Iioat therein, the conveyer or carrier extending across the top of the chute, the tilting lever IIO having one end t adapted to extend into the veyer, a second arm on the shaft, and a chain path of the conveyer or carrier, the doors of connecting the second arm with the fioat, subthe chute, the Winding;` drum operatively constantially as described. t

neared with the doors, a gear and ratchet t JOHN F. scHMADEKE. t t; 5 mechanism for operating" the drum by the Witnesses: t

tilting lever, an arm on the shaft adapted to WARREN B. HUTGHINSON,

hold the lever out of contact with the con- C. SEDGWICK. 

